MediaWatch also checked two other smaller groups and found similar results.

The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank
considerably to the left of Brookings, was labeled only 17
times in 62 mentions (27.4%). In 31 stories, New York Times
reporters attached a label to IPS five times; "liberal"
accounted for four of them and "of liberal orientation" the
fifth. In 23 stories, the Washington Post labeled IPS on merely five occasions.

Reporters felt compelled to issue a "conservative" label
every time they mentioned the Center for Judicial Studies,
another group that received attention during the Bork
hearings. The Post went 4 for 4, U.S. News 2 for 2, The New York Times 4 for 4, and the Los Angeles Times 1 for 1.

An interesting measure for think tank influence is the
number of editorials and book reviews they get published in
the major newspapers. Brookings has a wide lead in published
editorials with 72, followed by IPS with 22 and Heritage
with 16.

The Washington Post published articles with
Brookings bylines 17 times, compared to 9 for IPS and 2 for
Heritage. Of the 17 Brookings articles, the Post relied on 14 different authors. The New York Times also printed 17 Brookings produced articles from 14 authors, in addition to 6 from Heritage and 2 from IPS.

The Los Angeles Times relied on Brookings for 38
editorials and book reviews, IPS was second with 11 followed
by eight for Heritage.

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